These muffins taste very decadently of rich, dark chocolate, yet they are surprisingly healthy.  I first came across the original recipe, created by Thomas, on his interesting food blog called “Full of Plants”.  His recipe is actually quite healthy as it is, but I wanted to try to eliminate any added sugars, preferring that any sugars be naturally occurring in the whole food ingredients.  I also wanted to add walnuts, as I find they go really well with the other flavours present in the muffin, as well as being heart healthy, and I got rid of the white rice flour, as it doesn’t really provide any nutritional benefit and may contain unhealthy levels of arsenic.  And, of course, I had to double the recipe because six muffins don’t go very far.

I’ve noticed that since we’ve been eating a more diverse range of whole foods, I have no desire to eat typical ready-made desserts…they just taste like sugar and cardboard to me.  These muffins, however, aren’t too sweet, and they’re dense and full of flavour, almost like a muffin/brownie.  They’re also full of flavonoids from the chocolate, Omega 3s from the walnuts, vitamin E, manganese, biotin, copper, magnesium, molybdenum, Vitamin B2, phosphorus and monounsaturated fats in the almond flour, potassium from the bananas, soluble fiber and minerals such as selenium, manganese, copper and magnesium and potassium in the dates, plus manganese, phosphorus, magnesium, copper, iron, zinc, folate, Vitamin B1 and B5 from the oat flour…I think we can safely say these muffins are a deliciously healthy treat.

Double Chocolate Muffins
makes 12 muffins

Ingredients:

1 cup (90g) almond flour (ground, blanched almonds)
1 cup (90g) oat flour
6 tablespoons (44g) unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
3 ripe bananas
8 medjool dates, pitted
2/3 cup (156ml) almond milk (or coconut, or soy)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips or chunks
1 cup walnuts, roughly chopped

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350°F and line a 12-muffin tin with muffin papers.

In the bowl of stand mixer, or in a large mixing bowl, break the bananas into pieces and mash using medium speed on the stand mixer, or with a fork in the bowl.

Add the almond milk, vanilla and the dates, either very finely chopped, or, as I like to do, blend the pitted dates with the almond milk using a hand-held stick blender.

Mix the mashed banana, dates, vanilla and almond milk together well.

Add all of the dry ingredients, except the chocolate chips and walnuts, to the bowl, then blend well. You don’t have to worry about overmixing as there’s no gluten to get tough in this mixture.

Then gently stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts, and distribute batter evenly between the 12 muffins cups. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the tops are getting crusty, then move to a cooling rack. Once cooled, I like to freeze the muffins so they stay fresh tasting.

Printable Version:

Double Chocolate Muffins

Print Recipe

Servings 12 muffins

Author Samantha

Ingredients

• 1 cup (90g) almond flour (ground, blanched almonds)
• 1 cup (90g) oat flour
• 6 tablespoons (44g) unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• 3 ripe bananas
• 8 medjool dates, pitted
• ⅔ cup (156ml) almond milk (or coconut, or soy)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ½ cup bittersweet chocolate chips or chunks
• 1 cup walnuts, roughly chopped

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350°F and line a 12-muffin tin with muffin papers.
• In the bowl of stand mixer, or in a large mixing bowl, break the bananas into pieces and mash using medium speed on the stand mixer, or with a fork in the bowl.
• Add the almond milk, vanilla and the dates, either very finely chopped, or, as I like to do, blend the pitted dates with the almond milk using a hand-held stick blender.
• Mix the mashed banana, dates, vanilla and almond milk together well.
• Add all of the dry ingredients, except the chocolate chips and walnuts, to the bowl, then blend well. You don’t have to worry about overmixing as there’s no gluten to get tough in this mixture.
• Then gently stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts, and distribute batter evenly between the 12 muffins cups. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the tops are getting crusty, then move to a cooling rack. Once cooled, I like to freeze the muffins so they stay fresh tasting.